


Living Arrangements

by misura



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-13
Updated: 2011-11-13
Packaged: 2017-10-26 01:23:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/277004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erik is a famous art thief. Charles is the FBI agent who catches him. Raven is not sure yet whether to be amused or horrified. (fusion with <i>White Collar</i>)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Living Arrangements

Putting the handcuffs on Lehnsherr after nearly three years of chasing the man around the world should feel like more of a triumph, Charles thinks - at the very least, he should be experiencing the satisfaction of a job well done. Instead, he feels ... well, best to call it 'nothing', probably.

"Good job, folks." It's not his team's fault that the thought of Lehnsherr safely locked away in prison doesn't make him particularly happy, after all. They've worked hard for this, as hard as Charles. He only hopes it has brought them more joy than it seems to have brought him.

Lehnsherr's lips curve. "Does that include me? Because I'd have to disagree."

Charles feels himself flush. It's ridiculous, really; Lehnsherr is, after all, a criminal. He's entitled to a lawyer, and of course nobody's going to treat him badly, but even so, he's hardly -

"I was talking to my team," he says, feeling awkward and almost like he should be apologizing. The fabric of Lehnsherr's shirt is soft as Charles ( _gently but firmly_ he tells himself) grasps his wrist and starts leading him in the direction of the stairs. "There's a car waiting downstairs. We have the building surrounded."

"Naturally." Lehnsherr's tone suggests amusement.

Charles supposes there's cause; he does rather feel like he's making a fool of himself. Then again, if Lehnsherr had just gotten away as per usual, they wouldn't be in this situation.

(Also: Charles would be on the phone with his boss right now, explaining why he's failed _again_ , but that's not so bad; he's quite used to it by now, honestly.)

The point being: if anyone's to blame for this, it's Lehnsherr. Charles is just a mostly innocent by-stander, caught unawares by unforseen circumstances.

"Mind the ste- " Charles starts, too late to do Lehnsherr any good, of course, because apparently, he's too distracted feeling sorry for himself to take proper care of his prisoner.

Lehnsherr stumbles, falls - as people tend to do when they're handcuffed and the person who's supposed to be keeping them upright is too busy being an ass to pay attention. Charles winces.

"Sorry. Are you all right? I'm very, very sorry, truly, I just - "

"Not sorry enough to look the other way while I slip out of the door, I assume?" Lehnsherr reaches and Charles grabs his hand to pull him up withou a second thought, until Lehnsherr is making a show of brushing off his trousers, and Charles's mind insists there is something not quite right about this picture.

The handcuffs lying on the floor provide a rather clear clue.

Charles frowns. Lehnsherr is good with locks, yes, he knows, but nobody's _that_ good.

Lehnsherr follows Charles' gaze and mutters something in German.

 

"You do realize, I hope, that you've just made yourself an accessory to a jailbreak - which probably happened oh, I don't know, _five minutes after you left_."

It's his first day back in New York, which means Charles will spend at least an hour wondering why he thought it would be a good idea to share an apartment with his sister. "He's not going to escape." Even if Charles might have admitted to himself that he really, really wants Lehnsherr to do precisely that.

Raven snorts. "Oh, yes, because jail is such a nice place to be. Get real, Charles."

"He promised me he wouldn't," Charles says, before he can take the two seconds it would have taken him to realize what a colossal mistake those words are. Raven isn't an idiot. Worse: she _knows_ him.

"He promised you he wouldn't," Raven repeats slowly.

Charles considers the advantages of making a run for the door right now and burying himself in paperwork at the office. There's bound to be some mortgage fraud cases nobody wants anything to do with. Good for two, three days at the very least, probably.

" _Erik Lehnsherr_ promised you he would stay put like a good little criminal," Raven says and oh, she's still not quite where Charles sincerely doesn't want her to get, but she's _close_. "And you believed him."

"And I was right," Charles says, eagerly seizing on this chance to steer the conversation from himself and this ... _thing_ he has about Lehnsherr. "I made a call just five minutes ago, and he's still there."

On second thought, maybe he shouldn't have bothered.

"And how many such calls have you made since you got home last night?" Raven asks, like she hasn't kept count. Of course, she probably thought Charles was calling that Someone Special he'd met in Paris, possibly because Charles told her that was who he was talking to the first time.

It's probably a good thing she doesn't know about his cellphone. "A few," Charles admits. "Well, that's only sensible, isn't it?"

"Very sensible, Charles." Raven's tone implies the exact opposite of her words.

It would bug Charles more if he was certain she was wrong.

 

Charles is aware that most of the people on his team feel somewhat differently about Lehnsherr than he does, but even so, their reactions to the idea he's come up with during their flight from Europe surprise him a little.

"He's _not_ one of us," Sean says, by way of summarizing their objections. "He's a criminal."

"I'm not saying he's not a criminal," Charles says. "I'm simply saying that putting him in prison isn't going to help us stop other people like him." By which he means 'criminals', obviously, not ... that other thing Lehnsherr is. "Plus, what better way to keep an eye on him?"

Alex and Hank exchange a look that leaves Charles severely tempted to read their minds.

"Okay, I guess," Hank says.

"You're the boss." Sean capitulates with ill grace and for no clear reason Charles can see. He's surprised enough to even let that whole 'boss' thing slip (because Charles isn't anyone's _boss_ ; he's the senior agent, yes, and he generally knows best, but he expects people to do what he says because it's _the right thing to do_ , not because he's in charge).

"So what can he do, anyway?" Alex asks.

Charles has considered telling them. In the end, he's decided against it. "That's his secret to share, not mine."

Also, Charles hasn't quite worked out yet how the ability to manipulate metal is going to help fight white collar crime. He's sure it will be, of course; he just hasn't quite ... worked out the details yet.

 

"You really are crazy." Lehnsherr makes it sound like that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Charles puts a small smile on his face. "You don't want to get out of here, then?"

Lehnsherr looks as if answering that question actually requires consideration. True, Charles didn't come in here expecting ... anything. He's made the offer, and if Lehnsherr can't see it for what it is, that's no skin off Charles's nose.

On that note, Charles feels he should probably adapt his body language a little. More ... casual and relaxed. He forces himself to lean back, putting a hint of a slouch in his shoulders.

"I'd be working only with you?"

"Yes." Charles doubts if any other team would even _want_ Lehnsherr - not even if they knew about his abilities. Which Charles has no intention of letting anyone else find out about.

"And you'd be paying me - what, exactly?"

"Nothing." Charles doesn't think that's unreasonable. "Obviously."

"In that case, I'm afraid I'll have to decline your offer. Obviously."

Charles doesn't see what's so obvious about that. "But ... _why_?"

"Well, if I'm not going to be in jail, I'm going to need a place to live. I'd need money for that." Lehnsherr shrugs in what Charles might almost believe to be an apology. "I'm afraid it's as simple as that."

Lehnsherr does have a point, Charles concedes. If he's going to become a lawful, productive member of society, he's going to need to pay rent. He's going to have to buy groceries. Charles should really have thought of it himself.

"I can find you a place to live. For free." Raven's not going to be happy, but Charles can live with that. Hopefully. Assuming he survives living with _Lehnsherr_. "Until we've worked out something better."

Lehnsherr smiles. "In that case, I look forwards to meeting my new ... colleagues."

Charles wishes he could say the same. Still, one step at a time.

Besides, there's a good chance Raven's going to kill him later today, so why worry about a tomorrow that he might never even live to see?


End file.
